Tag Archives: memes

I came across these questions from the lovely Hannah J. Holmes in my Reader, and thought I’d give them a whirl because: a) Insta-content! I haven’t gotten around to editing/culling our 700 (no joke) Disney World pictures yet, so that recap will have to wait, and b) They’re interesting enough to give some insight into the respondent without being as tiresome as the usual “A to Z”-type memes. I’d love to see your responses, either in the comments or in a post of your own! Here are mine:

Let us begin with the most important matter: Do you like cake? Why or why not? I think the answer here is obvious: it’s half of my blog name, you guys. I am a cake fan, but also a bit of a pie die-hard. In the eternal battle of cake v. pie, I’m going to have to be Switzerland. It doesn’t to anyone any favors to declare the supremacy of one over the other; excellent cake and pie are wonderful, and mediocre/bad cake and pie can bring a party right down. I’m sure there’s an extended argument to be made for crust v. frosting, but it’s too early to contemplate baking and whipping together butter and sugar.

Have you ever been to Paris? If you have, tell me about it. If you have not, would you like to go someday? I’m lucky enough to have been to Paris twice. The first time, I was twelve, and was just there for a day (I was visiting family in England, and we did the obligatory Eurostar/bus tour). The second time, I went with GP and his parents, and…this happened. I can’t wait to go back (we sort of have to, right?), but there are many other destinations on the list before we can make a return trip.

Given the choice, would you rather go out to eat at a fancy restaurant or stay home and order takeout? Provided that I have something to wear, some cash to spend, and am in good health, I’ll choose to go out to eat any time. This has mostly to do with my predilection for fancy food and dressing up, but also the lack of good delivery food in my neighborhood: our options are limited, I believe, to Indian, pizza, and maybe Thai.

Similarly, would you rather go out dancing or or stay home with a warm blanket and a good movie? Here is a poorly-kept secret: I am not a “club” person. Between the dodgy dudes and alarmingly strong drinks made with alarmingly cheap alcohol that I survived as a member of a sorority in college, my desire to be bumped around by a lot of sweaty strangers is nearly nonexistent. On a Friday or Saturday night, the warm blanket and good movie (or even mediocre movie, I’m not too proud to admit) win out most of the time. That said, I wouldn’t rule out a cat-alarming dance party in the living room!

What’s your opinion of Ugg boots: cute and comfy or too ugly to meet the sun? As the owner of a legit pair of chocolate-brown Uggs, I’m going to have to split the difference: yes, they’re sort of ugly, but they’re comfy as hell and are basically like being allowed to wear slippers in public. I generally wear them on weekends only, and have a strict set of rules about what they can be worn with (the only pants that get tucked into them are the jegs, and the thought of wearing them with anything but jeans makes me sort of itchy).

Now onto the second-most controversial shoe known to man: What is your take on Crocs? While I will admit that, in a moment of pre-Disney weakness, I considered purchasing a pair of Crocs flats (there is a lot of walking around at Disney World, you guys, and people seem to go ape over these shoes), I stayed strong and resisted the urge. The traditional, clog-type Crocs? Ugly as sin, and only vaguely cute on children. Don’t get me started on the idea of Crocs (which are shoes that have holes in them) as appropriate kitchen footwear, Mario Batali.

Do you sing in the shower? The car? The opera house? I hum in the shower, sing my lungs out in the car, and have anxiety dreams about singing in opera houses.

Do you have any unusual fears or dislikes? Well, no. Because it’s not unusual to dislike birds, which carry disease and are living dinosaurs. (CREEPY, is what I’m getting at.) I do like them as a design element, but will straight up kick a bird in its face if it comes too close to me.

Have you ever seen snow? If so, do you remember your first snow? My first memory of “going to the snow” (which is what Central Valley Okies call it, or at least the ones I’m related to) is probably from when I was about six, and we tobogganed down a medium-sized hill in the lower Sierra. I’ve made up for my lack of early-life snow by marrying a dude who both snowboards and is from a place where it snows in the winter– which means that recreational winter trips include a lot of me staying inside and reading.

Would you rather play in the snow or spend a day at the beach? Beach, but only with some sort of shade. I’m not an entirely crazy person, you know.

Do you peel your banana the right way or the wrong way (meaning from the bottom or from the stem)? I’m going to have to take issue with the phrasing of this question, because this article clearly proves that the “right” way to eat a banana is from the bottom to the stem. Hence, I eat bananas the right way, but not in the way that this question seems to think.

There I was, all ready to quote Rebecca Black (yeah, that song is still my jam) and be all, “look, I blogged twice in a week! Throw me a party!” and, lo and behold, there was a novel format. Well, not novel– it’s something that many English teachers at my high school made their students do, though I never ended up doing it. So, I suppose, here’s my chance!

I am from to-do lists, from Post-Its and Windex.
I am from the small, creeping sounds of Sunday morning.
I am from the sand in your car during summer, the flickers of sunlight through the shade.
I am from tables full of sugar cookies waiting to be decorated and uncontrollable giggling, from Yvonne and Noble and Emily.
I am from the impromptu beach trip and the tendency to be just a little bit late, despite my best efforts.

(And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to dinner with the family (including the stepsister, her husband, and their babies), tomorrow my plans include a matinee of Avenue Q and Sunday, I want to make even more plum jam (our tree is a bit out of control)!)

1. I’d really like to have both the will and physical strength to complete the first level of the 30 Day Shred without wanting to die right now.

2. “Whyyyyyy???” is the word you’d most often hear me say if I stubbed my toe. I like to be as dramatic as possible, as often as possible.

3. Possession is a pretty great book, but only an okay movie. Hello, it’s about English scholars! Totally a dream come true. Also, Aaron Eckhart. Delicious.

4. I’d like to have a drink with Captain Jack Sparrow. After that, I am not responsible for what happens.

5. Marshmallows and fire go together like…peanut butter and jelly? Man, now I totally want a roasted marshmallow. And some sort of fire. Can one roast a marshmallow over a candle?

6. If you get me talking about cooking, I could go on and on. I feel like I know just enough to be knowledgeable, but am still insecure enough about my skills not to be a jerk about it. Don’t worry, though, I manage to be a jerk about other things.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to having a couple days off to hang out with the friends and loved ones. Tomorrow my plans include a cake tasting at our wedding place with GP, trying on dresses with my mom (is this a terrible idea, following cake tasting with dress-trying-on?), and Sunday, I want to be satisfied with a normal portion of chili and (light!) beer at our Super Bowl/Puppy Bowl party!

1. Two of my favorite ingredients in a drink are gin and tonic! (Duh)2. That the work week can seem so simultaneously long and brief often amazes me.3. You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to learn to mix a dry martini.4. Pull marginally clean jeans from the closet, add a shirt without checking to see what color it is, add some reliable shoes and jewelry, mix it all together and voila! You have my outfit today! (Honestly, for having such a lackadaisical approach to dressing myself today, I think I did fairly well)5. If I had a yard with a garden, I would love to grow lemons, limes, and an obscene amount of brightly-colored dahlias.6. Lip balm is best au naturel. I am so bad about constantly licking it off that I worry about all those parabens floating around in my body. Is that a thing, parabens?7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to reading for pleasure and catching up with Tivo, tomorrow my plans include a good long grocery-shop and a bit more reading (I’ve been craving a great book recently), and Sunday, I want to eat something delicious for dinner with my family! I am willing to provide dessert, of course.

Well, new to me, that is… Saw this over at A Study of Schoolbooks and Shoes, and thought, Hey, I am really dragging today, but can probably manage some searches in between various Very Important Event Planning Tasks (more on this later, of course). With this in mind, I give you…

1. Go to Photobucket (don’t sign in– Flickr is also a pretty sweet picture source, which you all know because you are Masters of Technology and the Interwebs)

2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box

3. Use only the first page

4. Copy the html and paste for the answer.

Here goes…

1. First name?

2. Favorite color?

3. Celebrity crush?

4. Band you’re listening to now?

5. Favorite movie?

6. Favorite Disney princess?

7. Favorite alcoholic beverage?

8. Dream vacation?

9. Favorite dessert?

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?That’s right, a Lady Who Sleeps on Books. Oh, and sorry about the pic quality…I am too impatient to fix them.

Finally, in Other News, I was awarded the Blog of Distinction honor by Maxie, who may or may not be my identical mind twin (we also have the distinction of owning the same pair of NY&Co black patent peep-toe flats…you know, like eleventy-billion other people who regularly shop at malls). I hereby pass this award on to…

EP of Stylish Handwriting, another brain-twin of mine, who is willing to discuss episodes of The Office at length with me. What’s not to love?

MissK, who previously rated T&CT “E for Excellent” (thanks again, by the way!), the authoress of Do Your Trick, Turn on the Stars, which is another of the 20sb that I am pretty much in love with.

Chris of Surviving Myself, one of the few guys in my Google Reader, for whatever reason. Perhaps because he is funny as hell, owns a cute puppy, and has a girlfriend on whom I have a mini-crush, because she posts tons of food pictures. I owe him a “thank-you” for commenting on multiple shoe-themed posts, as well– so, thanks!

Arielle of Good Things Come to Those Who Whine, and not just for the swell blog name. If you aren’t already, you need to check her out, because she is whiny in a fun way, not a way that makes you want to pinch her.

Jamie of Oh! How Lovely, another fabulous Chicago blogger, whose dog I covet and whose city has a bounty of cupcakes that she graciously writes about– much to the chagrin of my drool-covered laptop. Sorry for that image, y’all.

(See? I totally told you! Also, I cannot completely vouch for the oddness of these bits of information. But I suppose that’s what you get with memes, no?)

1. Do you like blue cheese? Let’s put it this way: I have never met a cheese that I didn’t like. The moldier and smellier the better, for real.

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? No. I vote that this is more “alarming” (if answered in the affirmative, of course) than “odd.”

3. Do you own a gun? No. No freaking way. And it’s safe to say that I never will.

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? Oh man, I wish there were a Sonic close to me! I always see their commercials and get so jealous.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes, for no apparent reason. Maybe because I know that there will be various “tests,” and I want to get A’s on them all. Yes, I will always be an overachiever.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Love! Except I recently saw an episode of Unwrapped about hot dogs and hot dog acoutrements, and that was way too much information.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Black tea with Splenda, or the tears of my enemies (although I worry that the second would only make me thirstier).

9. Can you do push ups? Sure…I’m very strong-willed, if not strong-armed.

10. Where do you keep your keys? (P.S. I had to make this one up, because 10 was missing. I know it’s sort of lame, but at least it’s “odd.”) I bought a set of two ceramic leaves at Target’s dollar area last fall, and it was originally supposed to be a seasonal thing, but they’ve caught on and have lived on our console table ever since, guarding the keys. Now, when I forget to put my keys there? All hell breaks loose.

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I love the diamond earrings that GP got for me last year for my birthday, and the pearls that used to belong to his grandmother (they’re this really long strand of potato pearls that are so versatile– they make me feel like the Princess of France whenever I wear them)

12. Favorite hobby? Reading, and planning ways to make my life more similar to that of Martha Stewart (aside from the jail time).

14. Do you have A.D.D? Nah, I’m just easily distracted.

15. What’s one trait you hate about yourself? I have a really hard time asking for help when I need it, and then accepting it even when it’s offered.

16. Middle name? Elise. I used to hate it, but now I like that it’s unique. The downside to this is that my initials are MES. If/when GP and I get married, they will be MESS. I know.

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment… 1. What happened to that house in Westchester that Monica and Chandler ended up putting an offer on? Friends is always on my mind. 2. Is this headache a sign that this is too much chardonnay, or that I should be wearing my glasses? 3. Reheated salmon is probably not worth the effort, is it?

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. With my own money? I don’t think I bought anything. But I did get to use the company credit card at FedEx/Kinko’s, because my life is pretty exciting, what with all that collating. Also, I seriously didn’t buy anything else yesterday. Go, me!

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Water, wine, black tea

20. Current worry? That I will continue to disappoint at work until I end up leaving in the fall. And that I have so little power to change that situation.

21. Current hate? This burgeoning headache. Go away, already!

22. Favorite place to be? Ever? Probably the beach. Any beach, really, but probably one of the ones on the North Shore of Oahu, where my family rented a house a few summers ago. Pure bliss, I tell you.

23. How did you bring in the New Year? With GP and his parents in a teeny mountain hamlet in mid-Hudson New York. It snowed! I was so psyched.

24. Where would you like to go? Back to Hawaii! Trips are already planned to Atlanta/Charleston and Paris later this month/year, so I am not counting those.

25. Name three people who will complete this? First of all, not a question. Second…I have no idea. Whoever loves to divulge little-known facts about themselves, and isn’t troubled by the fact that these things aren’t “odd” in the strictest sense of the word.

26. Do you own slippers? Yes, and I am wearing them now. They are black, with a little cable-knit and faux-fur detailing. I love them to death.

27. What shirt are you wearing? I’m wearing a nude-colored camisole from Old Navy, and an oatmeal sweater that’s…Gap? Also, that’s oatmeal as in the color, not the warm breakfast food.

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I haven’t before, but am pretty convinced that it would give me either VD or a rash. Or both.

29. Can you whistle? Yep. Hello, I have Okie ancestors, and they were at times involuntary whistlers, what with their sibilant issues.

30. Favorite color? I love them all! Because I am not seven years old, it’s really hard to pick. I like and wear all different colors, though black is my default. But isn’t it everyone’s?

31. Would you be a pirate? In a heartbeat, matey!

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever gets stuck in my head. Anything from Earth Wind and Fire to Carole King and Disney songs.

33. Favorite girl’s name? I have a hard time with names, because I can never dissociate them from the person or people I know (or know of) that bear them.

34. Favorite boy’s name? Really! It’s like I can never meet someone named Cody without thinking of Cody Porter from second grade, who made me laugh hysterically with his rendition of the song they played in the Baby Rollerblade commercial. Not even necessarily bad associations, but ones that make it hard to name my future children.

35. What’s in your pocket right now? Ha! I am wearing yoga pants, which I usually sleep in, rather than wearing them for their intended purpose.

36. What’s something that made you laugh today? This teenage girl that came into my office today to participate in our study. She was so energetic, and made me feel crazy old.37. Best bed sheets as a child? O. M. G. I had Cabbage Patch sheets! And they rocked everyone’s faces right off.

39. Do you love where you live? For the most part. I worry sometimes that I will have to live somewhere outside California, and it bothers me more than I am willing to admit. Sorry, places that aren’t California!

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2; one in the living room, one in the study. But not even one in the bedroom. Point, Megan!

41. Who is your loudest friend? Hm. Probably my friend Skippy, who lives in NYC now. In general, though, my friends are more the “under their breath” type than the shouty type.

42. How many dogs do you have? None of my own…but my mom and stepdad have a yellow Lab, Kobe (who just turned 8! I cannot believe it), and my dad has a beagle, Fred (who likes to sleep in, not just on the bed)

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Not that I know of. The crushes were much more plentiful when I worked with children, who didn’t know any better.

45. What is/are your favorite book(s)? Oh, man. I cannot even begin to tell you. I love A Thousand Splendid Suns, the Norton Anthology of English Literature Volumes 1 and 2, The Great Gatsby (for real, I swear!), Pride and Prejudice, The Stranger, anything by David Sedaris, all of the Harry Potters (because, seriously…it’s brain candy), pretentious hippie Beatnik stuff, bad books that can and should only be purchased in airports before transcontinental flights, grammar guides, Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? Hmm…there is a movement of Satie’s Gymnopedies that I think is really beautiful and sad. Overall, though, I am pretty unprepared to answer this.

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping, and subconsciously planning to knee GP at about 4 and a half hours later. Sorry!

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? “Five more minutes!” And this was a day where I woke up before the alarm. That just destroys me.

Ok, y’all, get on it! I know that you all have interesting things going on in your lives that are much more blog-worthy than your responses to the above 50 questions, but humor me! Or at least put it away for a rainy blog day, when the muse isn’t singing.

Because on a Friday morning, little is motivating me to do work. That, and I brought my personal laptop to work, and it is sitting on my desk right next to the work one, begging me to play instead of make one more freaking spreadsheet. May I present to you…

1. Some relationships are meant to end badly. This is how one learns 2. Matt Nathanson/Ingrid Michaelson at the Fillmore in SF is the last concert I saw; it was completely awesome! I wish I were able to see more live music (yes, I realize this has little to do with actual ability, and more to do with priorities and motivation, but…I have no defense against that).3. Spring should be warmer, no? The weather people are saying rain, and I am saying, “NO! This is California! This is why I pay so much to live here, right?”4. Oh no! I forgot to send my friend with a birthday this week her birthday card! (I am sending as many birthday card as possible this year– it’s sort of a New Year’s resolution, but I am afraid that officially calling it that will jinx things. Hopefully the aforementioned friend will accept an apology and belated card.)5. I’ve recently started using Google Calendar. I think it’s pure genius– anyone with me?6. LOLcats never fail to make me smile. What am I, made of stone?7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching some college basketball, tomorrow my plans include a barbecue at The Apartment with my Dad (and yet more basketball) and Sunday, I want to have brunch with the family to celebrate my brother’s 21st birthday. (I will actually be going to this brunch– mostly because I have no intention of going to a bar with a group of his other-21-year-old-dude friends.)

I half-promise there will be real content later today, all concocted by my very own brain. Only half, though, because I am almost too crazy excited not to be sick anymore.